East End Market closing for one week for finishing touches including permitting and code issues

Heather McPherson, Food Editor

After a highly successful grand opening weekend East End Market, a new showcase for local food artisans and cuisine in Orlando's Audubon Park, will close for one week to tie up some construction loose ends, meet city codes and permitting requirements and give the tenants a chance to "catch their breath." Here are excerpts from a statement issued to the media from owner-founder John Rife:

"For many of our tenants this is the first time they have operated a retail store. The overwhelming attendance and demand this weekend was far more than anticipated. So half of the reason we are closing this week is to give them a chance to catch their breath, put some systems in place to meet demand and hopefully enable me to get the kitchen fully permitted so producing on site rather than offsite at commissary kitchens will be possible going forward......

"To be fair to the City, the building still has some life safety deficiencies, mostly with the second floor emergency lighting and stairwells, despite those deficiencies they graciously allowed us to open this weekend only requiring me to have a fire marshal on-site to keep the general public safe.....

"East End Market is an immensely complex project and it means implementing a host of creative solutions to deal with the particular issues faced by this adaptive reuse development. Creativity and code compliance do not pair well. Honestly, we have some very strong advocates at the City that are working tirelessly to help us find solutions to meet the inspector's rigorous review. So, while I am unhappy about having to take the market off-line for the week it does serve a purpose greater than me hoop jumping to meet inspectors demands."

Heather Grove, media spokesperson for the market, said community feedback was overwhelmingly positive during the opening weekend.

"We can't wait to show off the upstairs demonstration kitchen and event space," said Grove. "We will be rolling out a series of cooking, homesteading and gardening classes in the week to follow."

At East End, visitors will find such purveyors as Fatto in Casa, Elisa Scarpa's Italian specialty bakery that offers authentic cookies, cakes and cupcakes; Houndstooth Sauce Co., a source for artisan sauces and marinades; La Femme du Fromage, a showcase of handcrafted cheeses from around the world; and 99 Market, Jennifer Crotty's "Porch Therapy" endeavor that sells plantings and gifts for the home.